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Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Using the HD camera- we where given a task, to create mini music video with a choice from 3, using only 30 seconds of song. So we choose Cream- I feel Free. The initial shoot didn't go too well mainly because we had a really limited time at first- and I had whiskers on my face- totally screwing up continuity of any further shots so we had to scrap all the footage from the first shoot.

The initial idea was all based on band shots, with no narrative or concept.

Initial feedback was not the best so we re-thought our idea, we re-filmed the day after with the idea and concept of being free, so someone going around and touching people and then they become free. however we still re-shot several band shots so that we could use them in our cut of this.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

A lesson afew weeks back provided me with...interesting thoughts. Mainly of Albanian's rapping with guns. And how totally low budget their music videos where. I mean REALLY low budget.

It kinda shows that your love for the music you vision is what counts I suppose...the scary thought being that we will be working on a far lower budget than these guys. Also learning that even a high budget doesn't make a good music video..as seen with Janet Jackson+ Micheal Jackson's Scream video by Mark Romanek, or more a high budget music video doesn't make a bad song sound any better I suppose.

They key thing with budget is that the stars obviously have an image to fuel, a kind of..state that people expect to see...An artist uses that video to kick that image into gear- so it doesn't really matter about budget...unless you want that image of course...

Directed by Mark Romenek, it basically takes place in a bizzare place where the 'concepts' of the song are played out in unusual fashions. The Music video was released with some controversy upon its release in 1994, being banned from normal air-play on MTV, hence a censored edition appeared, it caught on mainly due to the catchy chorus..

I'll have to leave the link at YT don't like embedding this one. It's a top quality music video a mix of preformance and concept, the fast beat provides the back drop for relentless action- I'm unable to find a director for this. It is a totally brutal video and in black and white- really low quality, giving it that urban underground feel to match the song.

I'll update as I go along, these are two off the top of my head without thinking too hard.

At first the interface looks overwhelming- the sheer amount of options that you could use. This at first seemed overly complex and fairly...tricky to use because of the number of options. Without that number of options however it would be a lesser tool, it would loose that flexability that makes it so useful as a film-maker, with use of layers. I Also learned that keyboard shortcuts are the key!

Without them things can get real murky to use, in some ways it seems simpler that imovie- which now seems more like a childs toy.

Having used Sony vegas really shortly (I couldn't work it that well) it seems really similar.

Friday, 15 July 2011

The filming itself wasn't an issue, it was more the filming the dance shots and getting them to look chronological whilst maintaining the energy for the music video. We also struggled with time management- it being difficult to manage a small crew AND a set of people AND choreograph properly. Leading to some difficulty.
It was pretty much the time management of the whole piece that caused us some trouble- it caused several hold ups in the filming. The dance scenes also proved troublesome in the way that they where hard to choreograph and line up with the established continuity.

Overall I've learned that management is the key to the filming process and without certain things it just falls flat on its face and doesn't really go too well.

This is a blog in which I will be posting updates on my year 13 Coursework progress and various other related subjects...mainly on music videos and what news is comming up, the directors behind the videos. I'll also cover the basic aspects of why a music video is made and how it ties in with the music industry on a larger scale.